Two significant problems occur immediately following surgery on the chest, breast or underarm. The first is bleeding which is most common during the first 24 hours. The second is accumulation of lymphatic fluid (a clear yellow protein containing fluid) most common during the first two weeks after surgery.
Bleeding is prevented by careful surgical technique during the operation and by chest wall compression post-operatively. Direct compression force against the incision markedly reduces bleeding and promotes healing. For these reasons, surgeons routinely place surgical padding and tape against the incision to generate compression force over an indefinite period of time. The most frequently used dressing after breast surgery is gauze and tape. Unfortunately, the use of tape can be painful for patients during recovery and convalescence; and when the tape is removed, typically a layer of skin is also removed along with the tape. As a result, the use of tape frequently leaves small bruises or blisters on the skin. As an alternative, elastic bandages have also been employed for use as wrappings across the chest following chest wall or breast surgery. The use of such elastic bandages also is usually uncomfortable for the patient; and can restrict the patient's breathing if the wrapping is applied too tightly.
Lymphatic fluid production cannot be prevented and causes delayed healing if not drained. Typically, after mastectomy, lumpectomy, or after surgery on the chest wall or underarm, one or more surgical drains are placed near the surgical incision to collect these fluids and other matter that accumulate. Such drains and drainage systems of varying kinds conventionally are formed of soft tubing which exits the chest wall and drain individually or collectively into a collection bulb similar to that found on a meat basting syringe. The liquids and small solid matter particles collect in this bulb. The collection bulb, growing heavier with the accumulating fluid, typically must be supported or it will pull away from the body and disturb or completely rupture the drains resting within the surgical wound. Moreover, even in those instances where a collection bulb is not present within the drainage apparatus or system, the entirety of the drainage assembly exiting the surgical incision site must be accommodated, protected and supported throughout the recovery and convalescence of the patient.
It will be recognized and appreciated that although there are several garments and support articles conventionally known and medically employed after surgery for patients undergoing chest wall surgery, none of these, insofar as is presently known, offer solutions for accommodating the fluid drains and drainage systems used routinely in surgical practice for the removal of fluids after surgery. To the contrary, the conventionally known dressings, supports, bandages, and brassieres are directed primarily toward prosthetic applications and uses. Merely representative of these conventionally known articles and devices are the following: a breast support for post-surgical used for open heart surgery patient as described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,277; a therapeutic chest dressing for breasts having implants as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,331; a surgical brassiere for reducing stress along a midsternal incisional line of a female patient following cardiothoracic surgery as described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,351; a reversible mastectomy brassiere which provides a prosthesis on the left or right breast as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,326; and a mastectomy surgical brassiere for retaining surgical dressings over the incision lines of a single or double mastectomy as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,541. These representative examples illustrate the range and variety of garments and devices that do not recognize the recurring problems of accommodating drainage fluid removing systems after surgery. In addition, the above items do not include a comfortable, safe, and painless means of providing compression on the chest wall.
Accordingly, it will be recognized and appreciated that there has been a longstanding need for a garment which may be worn by a male or female patient immediately after chest wall surgery generally or after surgery on the underarm or breast specifically, which will accommodate surgical drains exiting from the incision site in a manner which will avoid chest wall binding, disruption or separation of the drain from the chest wall. In addition, if such a garment were also able to provide compression force over the torso generally and over the surgical incision site in particular to prevent bleeding, such a construction and article would be recognized by physicians as a major advance and unexpected improvement in this art.